Well, this is the second Atomicon (not in a row) where we are sitting around watching the Weather Channel. We've had several days where they have been warning us about big storms coming in from the west, and they're arriving right now.

We wandered about downtown Helen for about two hours, going in and out of the shops, looking at T-shirts, blown glass, quilts, etc. The sandwiches we had weren' t much; we should have eaten at the Blimpie.

I did buy a pretty thing in the Christmas shop: a little resin statue of St. Nicholas. It's actually St. Nicholas fading a bit into Santa Claus, as his face is chubby and smiling rather than the dour expressions in icons of Nicholas.

We came back to the lodge, to almost immediately make arrangements to go out for dinner before it began to rain in earnest. The lodge buffet on Friday is heavy on fried fish (with some barbecue ribs tossed in). Almost everyone was planning to go to a Mexican restaurant, but I can't each much there. Nevertheless, I decided to try and was pleasantly surprised, as they had a broiled chicken breast with onions which was just the ticket. So we had at least a dozen people at dinner, and "had a jolly time" as they would say in old British children's novels. Both Shari, our friend from Birmingham, and Sue, who we don't see very often because she lives on the opposite side of town, were able to come for the weekend, and were at dinner.

And now we're back at the lodge, watching the Weather Channel.

We're a bit nonplussed by the condition of the hotel this year. The paint on the doors of the rooms are peeling, the wallpaper is curling up, there are bits chipped off the fixtures, etc. Really sad.